Richard Johnston (politician)

Last updated
Richard Johnston
Ontario MPP
In office
1979–1990
Preceded by Stephen Lewis
Succeeded by Anne Swarbrick
Constituency Scarborough West
Personal details
Born (1946-08-08) August 8, 1946 (age 72)
Pembroke, Ontario
Political party New Democrat
Spouse(s)Vida Zalnieriunas
Residence Prince Edward County
Alma mater Trent University
ProfessionSocial worker

Richard Frank Johnston (born August 8, 1946) is a retired Canadian provincial politician, educator and administrator.

Canadians citizens of Canada

Canadians are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Canadian.

Contents

Background

Johnston was born in Pembroke, Ontario and grew up in Peterborough. As a young man he was active in the Anglican church and at one point considered becoming a priest. [1] In 1964, Johnston enrolled at Trent University being the second person to register at the opening year of the university. [2] He also worked at Trent as an administrator and counsellor. In 1967 he moved to Montreal to write fiction and poetry because as he said, "I couldn't afford Paris." [3] After that he moved to Whitby where he became a social worker specializing in the elderly. He was the founding executive director of community care in Durham Region. [1] [4]

Pembroke, Ontario City in Ontario, Canada

Pembroke is a city in Ontario, Canada at the confluence of the Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley. Pembroke is the location of the administrative headquarters of Renfrew County, though the city itself is politically independent. It is 148 kilometres northwest of Ottawa.

Ontario Province of Canada

Ontario is one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada. Located in Central Canada, it is Canada's most populous province accounting for 38.3 percent of the country's population, and is the second-largest province in total area. Ontario is fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. It is home to the nation's capital city, Ottawa, and the nation's most populous city, Toronto, which is also Ontario's provincial capital.

Peterborough, Ontario City in Ontario, Canada

Peterborough is a city on the Otonabee River in Central Ontario, Canada, 125 kilometres (78 mi) northeast of Toronto and about 270 kilometers (167 mi) southwest of Ottawa. According to the 2016 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 81,032. The population of the Peterborough Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), which includes the surrounding Townships of Selwyn, Cavan Monaghan, Otonabee-South Monaghan, and Douro-Dummer, was 121,721 in 2016. In 2016, Peterborough ranked No. 32 among the country’s 35 census metropolitan areas according to the CMA in Canada. Significant growth is expected starting in late 2019 when the Ontario Highway 407 extension is completed, connecting it to Highway 115/35 south of Peterborough. The current mayor of Peterborough is Diane Therrien.

Johnston and his wife operate a vineyard and winery in Prince Edward County. [5]

Vineyard Plantation of grape-bearing vines

A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture.

Winery Place that makes wine

A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of tanks known as tank farms. Wineries may have existed as long as 8,000 years ago.

Prince Edward County, Ontario City in Ontario, Canada

Prince Edward County is a single-tier municipality and a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario.

Politics

Johnston's first association with politics was in the 1970s when he worked as a campaign organizer for Stephen Lewis in Scarborough West. He was the campaign manager for the 1977 election. [6]

Stephen Lewis Canadian politician

Stephen Henry Lewis is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s.

Scarborough West was a provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It was created prior to the 1963 provincial election and eliminated in 1996, when its territory was incorporated into the riding of Scarborough Southwest. Scarborough West riding was created from part of the former riding of York—Scarborough. It was in the former borough of Scarborough.

When Lewis left politics, Johnston ran to succeed him as the NDP Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Scarborough West, winning election to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a 1979 by-election. [7] Johnston was re-elected three times before he retired in 1990. The only time he faced a serious challenge was in 1981, when he defeated Progressive Conservative John Adams by 375 votes. [8]

Ontario New Democratic Party political party in Ontario, Canada

The Ontario New Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario NDP, led by Andrea Horwath since March 2009, currently forms the Official Opposition in Ontario following the 2018 general election. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961 from the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL).

Scarborough, Toronto Administrative division in Ontario, Canada

Scarborough is an administrative division in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated atop the Scarborough Bluffs, it occupies the eastern part of the city. Scarborough is contained within the borders of Victoria Park Avenue on the west, Steeles Avenue to the north, Rouge River and the city of Pickering to the east, and Lake Ontario to the south. It borders Old Toronto, East York and North York in the west and the city of Markham in the north. Scarborough was named after the English town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Legislative Assembly of Ontario single house of Legislature of Ontario

The Legislative Assembly of Ontario is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of Ontario. The Assembly meets at the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in the provincial capital of Toronto. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the Queen of Canada, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

He crusaded for improved benefits to the poor and disabled by attempting to live for a month on a "welfare diet" in 1982, limiting his food budget to that of the average person on welfare. [1]

Johnston ran in the 1982 NDP leadership convention to succeed Michael Cassidy. He characterized himself as a 'rank-and-file' candidate who was more in tune with the grassroots of the party in contrast with Bob Rae who had the support of leaders in the party and the trade union movement. Johnston received support from the left wing of the party including MPPs Floyd Laughren, Jim Renwick and Ross McClellan. [9] Johnston promoted a strong anti-nuclear stand and was proponent of nationalizing key industries such as the banks, Bell Canada and natural resource companies such as Inco's mining and smelting operations. [10] [11] On February 7, 1982, Rae won on the first ballot with 64.5% of the vote beating Johnston by 844 votes. Johnston was magnanimous in defeat saying of Rae, "a leader with an unparalleled capacity to turn a phrase and turn on a crowd. I will be proud to serve in the Legislature with Bob Rae as my leader." [12]

In the legislature, Johnston served as chair of the NDP caucus and chair of the social development committee during the 1985 to 1987 minority legislature in which the NDP held the balance of power. Johnston, unlike Rae, had originally supported a coalition government with the Liberal Party following the election of 1985. [3]

In 1983, Johnston moved a resolution to declare Ontario a nuclear weapons-free zone but it was defeated, a decision that moved him to tears. In 1987 he introduced a private members bill on the same issue and it was passed with support of all three parties. Only 2 Liberals and 7 Conservatives opposed it. [3] [13] He travelled to Nicaragua to help build a school and medical facility. [14] In 1987, he presented a report to the legislature, Toward a New Ontario, which recommended an overhaul of the existing social assistance system.

In 1990, Johnston decided to retire from politics. He said that after suffering a heart attack in 1984 he wanted to pursue a career that was easier on his health. [15]

After politics

Following his departure from politics, Johnston returned to academia serving as chair of the Ontario Council of Regents for the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology from 1991 to 1995. He then served as president of the First Nations Technical Institute on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory from 1995 until 1998 as well as a member of Trent University's board of directors. Johnston served as president of Centennial College in Scarborough from 1998 until 2004. [5]

In 1995 Johnston and his spouse purchased a farm 5 km West of Wellington in Prince Edward County, Ontario. They started By Chadsey's Cairns, [16] one of the original wineries founded in "The County" in the 1990s, and continue to run the operation to this day.

In 2006, he was appointed to the board of trustees for OPSEU's pension trust. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Stead, Sylvia (June 30, 1984). "NDP's Johnston takes risks to highlight issues". The Globe and Mail. p. 18.
  2. ↑ "2007 Distinguished Alumni Award Winners". Trent University. Archived from the original on January 13, 2014. Retrieved January 13, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Contenta, Sandro (March 23, 1986). "'Red Richard' fights for the poor". Toronto Star. p. D1.
  4. ↑ "Richard Johnston to be roasted and toasted at farewell dinner". Ottawa: Canada NewsWire. June 14, 2004. p. 1.
  5. 1 2 3 "OPTrust Appoints Two New Trustees to Help Govern $10.5 Billion Pension Plan". Ottawa: Canada NewsWire. January 16, 2006. p. 1.
  6. ↑ Mosher, Peter (March 28, 1979). "The Other Election 3 candidates using Ottawa to gain votes". The Globe and Mail. p. 4.
  7. ↑ "Scarborough West, Wentworth held by NDP's Johnston, Isaacs". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. April 6, 1979. p. 1.
  8. ↑ Canadian Press (1981-03-20). "Election results for Metro Toronto ridings". The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. p. 22. Retrieved 2014-01-14.
  9. ↑ Speirs, Rosemary (September 25, 1981). "Johnston enters NDP contest". The Globe and Mail. p. 5.
  10. ↑ Stead, Sylvia (October 22, 1981). "Three NDP candidates differ on nuclear policy". The Globe and Mail. p. 2.
  11. ↑ "The NDP picks a leader". The Globe and Mail. February 5, 1982. p. 6.
  12. ↑ Stead, Sylvia (February 8, 1982). "New Ontario NDP leader Rae promises to fight MDs over salaries". The Globe and Mail. p. P1.
  13. ↑ "Ontario declares itself nuclear-arms-free zone". The Windsor Star. November 14, 1986. p. A8.
  14. ↑ "From 'Red Richard' to college president". Toronto Star. March 20, 1999. p. 1.
  15. ↑ "Scarborough MPP planning to retire". Toronto Star. February 2, 1990. p. A12.
  16. ↑ http://bychadseyscairns.com/
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